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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30093621">The Runaway</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeallnight/pseuds/writeallnight'>writeallnight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Family, Friendship, Gen, Hot dad stuff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:00:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,651</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30093621</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeallnight/pseuds/writeallnight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Eddie picks Christopher up from Buck's after the events of 4.08 "Breaking Point."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>55</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Runaway</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eddie knew fear. He’d survived shootouts, bombings, five alarm fires, near drowning, and the death of his wife. He <em>knew </em>fear. But all of that paled in comparison to how he’d felt when he’d seen Christopher’s empty bed.</p>
<p>It was God or karma or sheer luck that he didn’t get pulled over on the way to Buck’s because he made the twenty minute trip in less than ten, ignoring several stop signs on quieter streets and speeding through questionably yellow lights. He needed to be with his kid <em>now</em>.</p>
<p>The elevator ride up to Buck’s floor almost killed him. He stood right next to the door, one hand braced on the paneling, the other punching the button repeatedly as if that would make the machinery move faster.</p>
<p>Buck was waiting for him in the hallway, his face serious. “Eddie, wait a second,” he said, holding out a placating hand.</p>
<p>“Buck, let me in,” Eddie said through gritted teeth.</p>
<p>“Just listen,” Buck said. “If you go in there yelling it’s not going to fix anything. He’s upset—“</p>
<p>“I know he’s upset!” Eddie snapped. “I’m upset too! How do you think I felt, opening his door and finding him gone? Knowing that it’s my fault? That he’d rather come talk to you than me?”</p>
<p>Buck stayed calm despite the jabs. “He’s just a kid Eddie. He’s confused.”</p>
<p>Eddie shook his head. “Buck I swear to god if you start trying to lecture me on raising my kid right now—”</p>
<p>“I’m not, I promise I’m not,” Buck said. “I just…I know what it’s like to feel like you don’t have anyone to talk to. And I don’t want you to make a mistake you can’t come back from.”</p>
<p>“Buck.” Eddie blew out a breath, his already thin patience having reached the breaking point. “Just let me in.”</p>
<p>Buck eyed him for a half second longer, then stepped back. Eddie pushed past him, striding quickly into the apartment. Words like ‘grounded’ and ‘no TV’ were at the forefront of his mind, but they died on his tongue the second he saw Christopher sitting on the couch. He was here. He was safe. He wasn’t kidnapped or lying on the side of the road or wandering the streets by himself, all scenarios that had run through Eddie’s mind in the last half hour.</p>
<p>“Christopher.” He breathed out his son’s name and dropped to his knees, pulling him into a fierce hug. “Oh my god Christopher. You scared me.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry Dad,” Christopher said, his voice muffled against Eddie’s shirt.</p>
<p>Eddie’s tears were closer to the surface than he’d realized, pricking at his eyes and making his throat grow tight. “I’m sorry too.”</p>
<p>Christopher pulled back and looked up at him, worry pinching his face.“Are you mad at me?”</p>
<p>Eddie sucked in a deep breath, struggling to find the right words. There were clearly some things they needed to talk about. As much as he hated to admit it, Christopher wasn’t a baby anymore.</p>
<p>“I’m upset,” he finally said. “I’m glad you felt like you could come talk to Buck; that you chose a safe place to go. But it really scared me to find you gone like that.”</p>
<p>“I was just really mad at you,” Christopher said, shifting back and forth restlessly. “You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend.”</p>
<p>“I know,” Eddie said, guilt chewing at his gut. “But relationships are a complicated thing. And I didn’t want to talk to you until I was…more sure about everything.”</p>
<p>“You lied to me.” Christopher said it accusingly.</p>
<p>“I did,” Eddie admitted. “And that was the wrong choice. I’m sorry. I will try to be more honest with you from now on. But I also need you to understand that sometimes I need time to figure things out before I talk to you.”</p>
<p>“Because you’re a grown up?”</p>
<p>“Yes. Because I’m a grown up. And grown up stuff is complicated sometimes.”</p>
<p>Christopher mulled this over for a moment and sighed. “That’s what Buck said too.”</p>
<p>“Yeah?” Eddie glanced toward the doorway but Buck had disappeared, apparently giving them some privacy, although with the loft’s open floor plan he had no doubt that his friend could hear every word. “What else did he say?”</p>
<p>“That it was okay for you to have a girlfriend and it was okay for me to be upset about it. And that it doesn’t mean you love Mom any less.”</p>
<p>Eddie’s heart squeezed. “Christopher, is that what you think? That if I see someone new I don’t love your mom anymore?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” Christopher said with a sniff.</p>
<p>Eddie could tell he was close to tears and he squeezed his son’s knee comfortingly. “I will always love your mom. Just like I will always love you. But I have room in my heart for somebody new. And I think if you try, you just might too.”</p>
<p>Christopher was quiet for a moment. “I think I could do that.”</p>
<p>Eddie felt a wave of relief crash over him. “I know you could. You are one of the kindest, most loving kids in the whole world.”</p>
<p>Christopher looked up at him from under his glasses. “Does that mean I’m not in trouble?”</p>
<p>“Oh no, you’re definitely in trouble,” Eddie said, amusement trickling through him in spite of the situation. “Grounded. For a week. No phone. No TV. No video games.”</p>
<p>“But Dad!”</p>
<p>“Uh uh, don’t even try,” Eddie said. “Choices have consequences kiddo.” He softened his voice. “Chris, the next time you get mad I want you to come and talk to me. But if you ever feel like there’s something we can’t talk about, you can tell me that you want to come to Buck’s and I’ll bring you. Please don’t ever run away like that again.”</p>
<p>“I won’t,” Christopher said. “I promise.”</p>
<p>“Good. Come on,” Eddie said. “It’s a school night. Let’s get home.”</p>
<p>“Can we say goodbye to Buck?”</p>
<p>“Of course.”</p>
<p>Buck reappeared at the sound of his name. “Hey time to go already?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Dad says we have to,” Christopher said. He walked forward and wrapped his arms around Buck’s waist. “Thanks Buck.”</p>
<p>“Anytime buddy,” Buck said fondly, ruffling his hair.</p>
<p>“Hey Christopher, can you go wait in the hall for just a second?” Eddie asked. “I’ll be right out.”</p>
<p>Christopher eyed them both. “More grown up stuff?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Eddie said pointedly. “Go please.”</p>
<p>“Fine.” Christopher turned with a sigh of long suffering and headed out the door.</p>
<p>Eddie stuck his hands in his back pockets and shifted his weight uncomfortably. “Hey, look, I’m sorry I came in here like that. That stuff I said…I know you were just trying to help.”</p>
<p>“It’s okay,” Buck said. “I get it. He scared the shit out of you. Heck he scared the shit out of me just showing up on my doorstep.”</p>
<p>Eddie shook his head. “I don’t know what I’m doing here Buck. He’s growing up. He’s almost a teenager. Sometimes it’s like I don’t even know him anymore.”</p>
<p>“Hey, you’re a good dad,” Buck said. “He knows that. He just…needed a minute.”</p>
<p>“Well thank you for being here. For both of us,” Eddie said. “I really—it means a lot to me that he feels like he has someone he can talk to.”</p>
<p>Buck put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Always.”</p>
<p>Christopher fell asleep on the drive home, which Eddie took at a significantly slower pace than his frantic journey to Buck’s. When they arrived Eddie gathered him up in his arms and carried him inside, heart squeezing painfully in his chest. How much longer until he couldn’t do this anymore? Until Christopher grew too tall or too embarrassed to let him help this way? He wasn’t ready to let childhood go. But the last two years had changed them both, and it was time Eddie stopped pretending Christopher was going to be a kid forever and started preparing to help him grow up.</p>
<p>He laid Christopher on his bed and slipped off his shoes before pulling up a blanket and tucking it around him. He pressed a kiss to his son’s hair and then gently removed his glasses, placing them on the nightstand. He turned off the light intending to slip from the room and fall into his own bed.</p>
<p>“Daddy?”</p>
<p>Eddie turned back to find Christopher’s eyes open, peeking up at him from under the blanket. “Yeah buddy?”</p>
<p>“What if your new girlfriend goes away too? Like Mom did?”</p>
<p>God, was his kid trying to kill him? Eddie was not prepared for this tonight. “I don’t think that will happen. But if it does, then we’ll be sad. And we’ll try to remember the good times we had together. Just like we do with your mom.”</p>
<p>“What if you break up?”</p>
<p>“That’s a possibility. You know sometimes things just don’t work out. That’s what dating is for. To see if you want to be with somebody forever.”</p>
<p>“If you break up, what if she doesn’t want to see me anymore?”</p>
<p>Eddie sat down on the bed. This was the crux of why he’d avoided this issue; he didn’t want to cause Christopher anymore heartbreak. “I don’t think there’s a single person in this world who would ever want to stop seeing you,” he said. “And I would never ask you to stop being friends with someone just because it didn’t work out between me and her.”</p>
<p>Christopher was quiet for a moment. “Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Eddie said. “Yeah buddy, of course.”</p>
<p>He nestled into the bed and Christopher snuggled close into his side. “I love you,” Eddie said.</p>
<p>“Love you too,” Christopher mumbled.</p>
<p>Within minutes his breathing evened out and Eddie knew he’d fallen asleep. But Eddie didn’t move. Not yet. He wanted to hold onto childhood for just a little bit longer.</p>
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